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CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
Chief Secretary Farley Augustine says criminals see Tobago as a place where they can go into hiding and also a place where they can expand their operations.

However, he says Tobago will fight back.

More from Nicole M Romany.
Transcript
00:00 The Chief Secretary admits that the Tobago House of Assembly is powerless when it comes
00:05 to national security on the island.
00:08 But he is not conceding defeat to criminals.
00:12 Mr Agustin has expanded on his theory on the spike in criminal activity in Tobago.
00:18 The second thing we have to contend with is the fact that the illegal gun and drug trade
00:25 is very much present on the island as elsewhere in the country.
00:30 Thirdly, we are discovering a situation where some of our youngsters who are involved in
00:38 the illicit gun and drug trade, they are taking the drugs on consignment from larger cartels,
00:48 so to speak, and in owing monies and not paying back on time and so on.
00:54 That is resulting in some of our youngsters being targeted.
00:58 The Chief Secretary is calling for legislative change to strengthen the police force on the
01:03 island.
01:04 A chief among the legislative changes would be the fact that since former Chief Secretary
01:11 Mr Orban landed, a request to a bill was sent down to Parliament asking for Tobago to be
01:19 able to develop its localised police force in the same way the borough corporations do,
01:25 which will then allow the TTPS a lot more flexibility to use its manpower.
01:33 In fact, TTPS in Tobago has a shortage in terms of its manpower.
01:37 Agustin tells TV6 he has requested specialised police units to be resident in Tobago.
01:45 He notes that currently the specialised units only come to the island temporarily if and
01:51 when needed.
01:52 The Chief Secretary is adamant that tourism in Tobago must not be negatively impacted
01:58 by the crime siege and says Tobago must stand up to these rogue elements.
02:04 We are fighting back from now.
02:07 Every single murder we receive is one too many, one too much, rather, and so we are
02:13 going to fight back until we ensure we are able to reduce the numbers significantly.
02:23 Last year we saw our highest murder rate ever in our history.
02:28 It will appear as if we are on course to surpass last year's number.
02:34 Last week, Mr Agustin made a call to meet with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to discuss
02:39 the crime situation on the island.
02:42 However, upon his return from Ghana on Sunday, the Prime Minister told the media that he
02:48 was unaware of the call, but said the country must ensure it gets the best arrangement for
02:55 securing its population in response to rampant criminal conduct and that he is willing to
03:01 work with all agencies.
03:03 Without giving much details, the Chief Secretary told TV6 that he in fact wrote to the Prime
03:09 Minister requesting an audience since January.
03:13 Nicole M Romany, TV6 News.
03:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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